Reporting on Policies and Measures Introductory presentation by the UNFCCC secretariat Workshop on the preparation of fourth national communications from Annex I Parties Dublin, 30 September – 1 October 2004

Overview Introduction UNFCCC reporting guidelines, main provisions relevant to reporting on policies and measures C&S report of NC3s, some general issues and problems identified IDRs of NC3s, examples of good practices Some points for discussion

Introduction (1) Article 12.2: Parties shall provide a detailed description on PAMs adopted under Article 4.2(a) and (b), and specific estimates of their effects on GHG Article 4.2(b): Parties shall report pursuant to Article 12 information on PAMs adopted under Article 4.2 (a) as well as on their projected GHG emissions. Article 4.2(e): Parties shall –Coordinate as appropriate with other such Parties relevant economic and administrative instruments developed to achieve the Convention objectives –Identify and review policies and practices that may lead to greater levels of GHG emissions

Introduction (2) Provide information to be reviewed by the COP in order to –Promote and facilitate the exchange of information on PAMs (Art. 7.2 (b)) –Promote the development of comparable methodologies for (preparing GHG inventories and for) evaluating the effectiveness of PAMs (Art.7.2 (d)) –Assess the overall effects of PAMs (environmental, economic and social effects) and progress towards achieving the objective of the Convention (Art.7.2(e))

UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines (1) The most detailed section of the UNFCCC guidelines together with projections Which PAMs are to be reported in the NCs –Parties should give priority to PAMs, which are: the most significant in terms of their impact on GHG mitigation; innovative and/or effectively replicable by other Parties; Implemented, adopted and planned. –Reported PAMs should be: at national, state, provincial, regional and local levels; in the context of regional or international efforts; PAMs on international transport emissions to be reported in the transport sector. –Parties should report on policies and practices pursuant to Article 4.2 (e) (ii), i.e. those that lead to greater levels of GHG emissions

UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines (2) Structure of the PAMs sections –description of PAMs by sector and by gas; –list of sectors: energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management, as well as cross-sectoral PAMs; –continuity is important: reference to previous NC for PAMs maintained over time; –possibility for a presentation of the aggregated effect of PAMs for several complementary measures. Policy making process –description of the overall policy context, national GHG targets, strategies for sustainable development, inter-ministerial decision- making process/bodies; –description of the monitoring and evaluation of PAMs over time.

UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines (3) Policies and measures and their effect –The presentation of information shall include: name and a short description of the PAMs; objectives of the PAMs; affected gases; type, or types of PAMs; status of implementation; implementing entity. –It should also include, as appropriate: a quantitative estimate of the effects of individual PAMs, or collections of PAMs –It may include information : on the costs of PAMs; on non-GHG mitigation benefit; how the policy interacts with other PAMs. –Parties shall provide information on how they believe PAMs are modifying longer term trends

UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines (4) Policies and measures no longer in place Summary table: Link between reporting on PaMs and projections (and emission inventory)

Findings and Problems Encountered (1) Findings –Improved reporting (new guidelines and enhanced capacity contributed to this); –Improved quality of reporting especially in energy and transport sectors and in fluorinated gases; –Almost all Parties used the summary tables with PaMs by sector; –Increased number of PaMs reported at state, provincial and local level; –Information not always transparent and several Parties did not adhere strictly to the reporting guidelines in their part on PaMs –Information on reporting on the progress made in the implementation of sector-specific policies was limited –Little detail on the monitoring and evaluation of these policies and the cost of emission reductions from particular policies.

Findings and Problems encountered (2) Problems encountered –Did not strictly follow the UNFCCC guidelines; guidelines were in some instances not very clear: reporting on industry, including on PaMs on energy related emissions and industrial processes emissions –Sometimes there was a lack of correlation between PaMs and their effects on past and future emission trends ( in the UNFCCC guidelines: effects from PaMs (1995, 2000, 2005) for projections (actual date for and projections for 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 ) –Some cases of missing or unclear information on type of policy and measure (some measures difficult to classify, e.g. policy processes), and status of implementation –Did not strictly follow the guidelines requirements to report PaMs by sector

Findings and Problems Encountered (3) Problems encountered (continued) –Little information reported on the non-compulsory elements of the guidelines, such as estimates of effects of individual PaMs or collections of PaMs, cost of measures, non-mitigation (ancillary) benefits, interaction of PaMs –Reporting on some projects on bilateral co-operation that belong to the section on FA and TT –Little attention on reporting on continuity of policies (policies that are no longer in place, or revised) –Table 1. with summary of PaMs by sector sometimes contains 100s PaMs, and sometimes does not contain all the elements required by the guidelines –Table 1 as a link between projections and PaMs, but the time scale is different

Examples of Good Practice Clear and transparent reporting on key policies and measures within a table and in a textual form: e.g. the Netheralnds, the U.K., Finland Estimates of effects from individual PaMs in the PaMs section matching the total effects in the projections section, including on time line of these effects, e.g. the U.K. provided those estimates for the base year and for 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and Estimates of effects from PaMs: e.g. the U.K. and Australia Estimates of cost: the Netherlands, Norway Type of policies and measures: e.g. the Netherlands, the U.K.

Points for the Discussion How to improve the completeness of information reported –on some attributes of the PaMs, especially on the cost and mitigation effects, on type of policy instrument –on policies and practices that may lead to greater level of emissions, or that are no longer in place? How to report on PaMs at the national level and provinces/states level and avoid overlaps and double counting of effects (all PaMs or examples of PaMs at levels other than the national level)? How to ensure continuity and consistency of information between PaMs reported in the NC4 and NC3 (tables?) How to ensure consistency of information between the three related sections in the national communications: inventory, PaMs and projections ( sectors, time-line )?